FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEPFEIFFER SPORTS INFORMATIONFriday, September 3, 2010WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL SUFFERS ROUGH START TO 2010 SEASON FALLING TO CATAWBA AND ECSU

SALISBURY, N.C. – Pfeiffer University had a rough start to the 2010 women’s volleyball season dropping both contests on day one of the Catawba Invitational in Catawba’s Goodman Gym. The Lady Falcons fell 3-1 (20-25, 25-23, 12-25, 16-25) against the host Lady Indians in the first contest before being swept by Elizabeth City State 3-0 (20-25, 22-25, 20-25).

Midway through set one, Pfeiffer held a 16-13 advantage on a Kim Amerell (Lynchburg, VA) kill before Catawba reeled off the next six-straight points grabbing the lead for good on three kills by Shay Meeks (Kings Mountain, NC). The Lady Indians finished set one on a 12-4 run.

Kristina Mordini (Freeport, IL) had a team-high dozen kills in the set two equalizer en route to putting Pfeiffer up 16-10. Two more kills by Mordini, coupled with kills from Abbey Ovbey (Mt. Gilead, NC) and Milana Mervosh (Roebuck, SC), helped the Lady Falcons even the match at one set apiece.

Meeks and the Lady Indians rapidly jumped out to an 11-2 lead in set three as Pfeiffer came out slow. A Kathryn Hobson (Asheboro, NC) kill brought the visitors to within seven at 16-9, but Catawba would receive kills from Meeks, Anna Logan (Yadkinville, NC) and Kaitlyn Whitmer (Ferrum, NC) to quickly close out set three as Catawba held a 2-1 match advantage.

Catawba didn’t slow down in the final set bolting out to a 5-0 lead in front of a Pfeiffer timeout. Amerell put down a pair of kills for a 9-5 deficit, but the Lady Falcon defense couldn’t slow down Catawba’s offense as the hosts hit .406 in the final set to clinch the win.

Mordini led the Lady Falcons with 12 kills while Colleen Wands (Apex, NC) led with 32 assists. Meeks had a match high 18 kills for Catawba while Logan followed with 11.

The offensive struggles continued after an hour break as the Vikings jumped out to a 6-0 lead in set one on three Falcon errors and pair of service aces by Jasmin Knox (Hubert, NC). Amerell served up her lone ace of the match at 21-16 to get the Lady Falcons within five, but four more Pfeiffer miscues gave ECSU their final four points for the set one win.

Errors continued to plague the Lady Falcons as three-straight mistakes broke a 14-all tie bumping the Vikings into the lead for good. Whitney Green (Greenville, NC) and Lia Scott (Atlanta, GA) each had a pair of kills to finish off set two.

Several ECSU errors in set three helped Lady Falcons out to a 10-8 lead until Scott broke yet another tie sending the Vikings up two at 14-12. Green and Scott concluded the sweep with late kills for the 3-0 victory.

Pfeiffer will have a quick turnaround with two more matches in the Catawba Invitational on Saturday taking on the Peach Belt’s Armstrong Atlantic at 9:30 a.m. and Lander at 3:30 p.m.